nuTsie Team
The Melodeo Team - Seasoned Veterans, Proven Talent
Melodeo was founded in 2003 by the founders of Tegic Communications. While at Tegic this group developed T9, one of only two products to be deployed universally on cell phones. They brought to Melodeo a passion for entertainment on mobile phones and an approach to building products that puts the user first. Joined by a diverse team of developers and business people from media companies such as AOL and Digeo, Melodeo is united in its vision of combining podcasting, social networking and mobile to create an excellent entertainment experience anywhere, anytime.
Jim Billmaier - CEO, board
Jim Billmaier joined became Melodeo's CEO on July 1, 2005. A 24 year technology veteran Billmaier brings a wealth of small and large company leadership experience to Melodeo.
Prior to joining Melodeo, Billmaier was CEO of Digeo, a Seattle-based startup that creates media center software and hardware. Under his leadership Digeo became a market leader, received 375 patents and filings, and won an Emmy Award for technical achievement. Billmaier also served as CEO of Asymetrix and led the company's IPO in 1998.
Before moving to the Seattle area Billmaier held leadership positions at Sun Microsystems and MIPS Computer Systems.
Billmaier holds a BA from Santa Clara University.
Olin Nichols - Chief Financial Officer
An experienced financial executive, Olin's background includes over 20 years in growing and successfully transitioning high technology companies. Most recently, serving as Acting CFO and consultant, he raised multiple rounds of venture capital as well as successfully merged a VC portfolio company with a public corporation. Previous to these assignments he was CFO of GoDigital Networks and Synergy Semiconductor, which reached liquidity by merging with a public company.
Olin holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle and enjoys spending time on his ranch in Eastern Washington.
Don Davidge - Senior Vice President, Sales
Don Davidge has more than 20 years of experience in the wireless-telecommunications, software and consumer-products industries. Prior to Melodeo, he served as a consultant to wireless companies such as Voice Signal Technologies, Kineto Wireless, Action Engine, UI Evolution and Wildseed.
Davidge was part of the original management team at Tegic, serving as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the T9 Text Input product. He later steered Tegic's T9 and AOL Mobile Instant Messenger businesses. Prior to Tegic, Davidge served as Director of Marketing for AT&T Wireless Services and spent eight years in brand and product management in the consumer packaged-goods industry.
Davidge is a frequent speaker at conferences such as 3GSM, CTIA, PCS and the Mobile Software Forum. He also is involved in nonprofit work and serves on the corporate board of directors for the King County Boys & Girls Club. Davidge holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington.
Bob Wise - Senior Vice President, Engineering
Bob Wise has been Head Geek (a.k.a VP Engineering) since 2005 at Melodeo, where he has been enjoying building great music listening experiences for consumers on web and mobile.
Prior to joining Melodeo, Bob had a fascinating and educational stint as an EIR at Ignition Partners, and has spent much of his career building high performance and high reliability systems in the telecommunications industry.
As a graduate student at the University of Virginia, Bob did pioneering work in parallel computing for NASA that he likes to think helps to keep the International Space Station from falling from the sky. That's a big exaggeration, but it was still fun.
Dave Dederer - VP, Business Development
Dave Dederer joined Melodeo in January, 2007, to focus primarily on two projects: overseeing all elements of Mobilcast, Melodeo's mobile podcasting product, and developing improved content across all of Melodeo's offerings.
Dederer brings nearly 15 years' experience in the music industry to Melodeo. He is a founding member of the multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated rock band The Presidents of the United States of America; Dederer has been the band's business manager since its inception and continues to manage the band's record label and other assets.
Immediately prior to joining Melodeo, Dederer spent three years as a Senior Project Manager at Pyramid Communications, one of the premier public affairs firms in the U.S. At Pyramid he worked closely with progressive nonprofit organizations to develop strategic plans, communication plans, public education campaigns and other varied projects and events.
Dederer is a frequent panelist and moderator at both music and technology events, including recent appearances at the MIT Enterprise Forum, Podcast Hotel and Gnomedex.
Dederer holds a Bachelor's degree in English and American Literature from Brown University and completed all coursework for a Master's in Urban Planning degree at the University of Washington.
Bill Valenti
Bill Valenti is a seasoned entrepreneur and global-business executive, combining more than 20 years of experience in international investment banking and successful technology start-ups.
Valenti spent 17 years in Asia developing commercial and investment banking business for Chemical Bank/Riggs Bank. Returning to the U.S., he launched New Pacific Partners, an investment banking partnership focused on Asian-market strategies.
He later served as CEO of Tegic Communications, a software development/licensing firm that was later acquired by AOL. Valenti also has founded and/or headed a number of innovative companies including World2Market, Hutchison Mediator and HEEDworks, Inc.
Valenti received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Temple University and a Master’s in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management. He remains active on the boards of a number of start-up companies and served as a Trustee of the International Snow Leopard Trust.
Melodeo, Inc. Board of Directors
Bill McAleer - Outside Board Member
A co-founder of Voyager Capital, McAleer has extensive venture and senior executive experience in the technology industry. He has participated on the boards of 15 private and public companies focusing on business software, data-center solutions, digital media and wireless services. In addition to Melodeo, McAleer currently serves on the boards of Verari, SeeCommerce, ClearCommerce and Avocent. He also invested in Tegic Communications, which was founded by several executives of Melodeo and sold AOL.
Prior to Voyager, McAleer was President of e.liance Partners, advising IT companies on strategy, venture financing and corporate partnering. He also served for six years as a senior executive and CFO at Aldus, where he was responsible for global finance, legal, operations and business development activities, as well as the 1994 merger of Adobe. Prior to Aldus, McAleer was a Vice President with Westin Hotels.
McAleer serves on the board of the Washington Software Alliance (WSA). He is an advisory board member for the University of Washington Center for Technology and Entrepreneurship, as well as Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Business. He also served on the executive committee of Big Brothers Big Sisters. McAleer earned a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.
Adrian Smith– Outside Board Member
Adrian is a Partner at Ignition and also serves as a director on the boards of SinglePoint, Sotto Wireless, and Twisted Pair Solutions.
Prior to Ignition, Adrian spent 12 years in leading technology roles at Nextlink, AT&T Wireless, McCaw Cellular Communication and British Telecom Research Laboratories. Adrian�s responsibilities have included the radio architecture and evolution of the LMDS broadband fixed wireless technology, the browser transport mechanism for integrated cellular voice and data solutions and the TDMA air interface design and specification.
Adrian joined British Telecom Research Laboratories in the UK in 1989 and worked on the ETSI standards for the Digital European Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) technology, developing DECT testbeds for voice, data and wireless video applications.
Adrian is the author of a number of patents associated with cellular technology as well as co-author of the book "IS-136 TDMA Technology, Economics and Services.�
Erik Baker - Outside Board Member
Co-Founder of GF Capital, Managing Director
Mr. Baker is responsible for originating, structuring and monitoring private equity investments initiated by GF Capital.
Prior to co-founding GF Capital. Mr. Baker was employed as a Senior Vice President at A&SB. While at A&SB, he was instrumental in managing a number of A&SB corporate development activities including the acquisition and sale of certain business units.
Mr. Baker has significant experience in the media, consumer product, industrial and financial services sectors. As part of GF Capital, Mr. Baker worked intensively on the Warner Music and Tommy Hilfiger transactions as well as GF Capital's other private equity transactions. Mr. Baker is a board member of Trade Service Corporation.
Mr. Baker is a magna cum laude graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Kent Thexton - Outside Board Member
Kent Thexton is the President and co-CEO of SEVEN, where he focuses on growing the customer base and subscriber adoption. Thexton has 17 years of experience in wireless telecommunications, including executive appointments with some of the largest mobile operators worldwide.
Thexton joined SEVEN from leading UK operator O2, where he served as Chief Data and Marketing Officer, President of O2 Online and a member of the board of directors.
Prior to joining O2, Thexton spent eight years in the Canadian mobile industry, holding the position of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Rogers Cantel (now Rogers Wireless). Prior to this, he held management positions at Northern Telecom and Bell Canada.
Thexton has an M.B.A. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario. He also is a board member of RedKnee and Photochannel.
